


Local Radio

by hellsteeth



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Late Night Drives, conspiracy theory radio shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26074024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hellsteeth/pseuds/hellsteeth
Summary: There’s really nothing like local radio stations, especially in the middle of nowhere. They’re just another way Mulder entertains himself while traveling, even better than postcards. He’s struck gold tonight, a show that seems to be about conspiracy theories currently discussing alleged government experiments during the second world war. It’s nothing Mulder hasn’t heard before, but it is fun to listen to other people’s takes on it.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Local Radio

The outside world stretches out infinitely beyond their little car, a vessel carrying them through the darkness. There isn’t much to see at night, but Mulder suspects that on a clear day he would be able to see for miles over the neat rows of corn and soybean.

Driving out to a little town in Indiana hadn’t been in the original plan, but the business of Memorial Day weekend had removed flying as an option. They needed to reach their destination within 24 hours. So here they were, en route to another place that didn’t even warrant a dot on the map ( _you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all_ , he sometimes thought to himself).

Scully had fallen asleep shortly after they passed through Cincinnati. She is curled up in the passenger seat, her blazer shed in favor of her soft cardigan. She snuffles in her sleep and fidgets occasionally, but otherwise looks peaceful. Mulder smiles to himself as he glances over at her. The way her messy ginger hair frames her face while her head tilts back against the seat makes him want to run his fingers through it, smooth it like he’s seen her do so many times. Her mouth is open slightly, there’s drool at the corner of her mouth. It’s incredibly endearing.

Mulder sighs and blinks away the dryness in his eyes. Is he keeps going, they can make it to their destination by morning. The dashboard clock reads 2:07 AM. It’s going to be a long night.

Driving usually isn’t a chore. He enjoys it, the feeling of experiencing small pockets of the country but never lingering in them. Just a taste here, an impression there. A place he might mentally bookmark to visit if he ever took vacations.

But God, the only thing he’s seen for miles has been the same neverending field and he’s _bored_. He wouldn’t dare wake Scully, who currently shares more attributes with the corpses she studies than with him. He’s stayed awake for longer, for days even, he just needs something to occupy his mind.

He thinks about the case for a while, but he can only run the same facts through the tumbler of his mind so many times before that gets stale. Mulder thinks back to his profiler days, wondering briefly if anyone has actually gone insane from staring at cornfields for too long. He sighs and scrubs a hand over his face. Scully snores a little.

He glances at her to make sure she is really out before fiddling with the radio controls slowly. When she doesn’t stir, he gets a little bolder and sifts through the channels until he finds what he is looking for.

There’s really nothing like local radio stations, especially in the middle of nowhere. They’re just another way Mulder entertains himself while traveling, even better than postcards. He’s struck gold tonight, a show that seems to be about conspiracy theories currently discussing alleged government experiments during the second world war. It’s nothing Mulder hasn’t heard before, but it is fun to listen to other people’s takes on it.

The journey becomes considerably more bearable as he listens to the radio show, amused by the way that the hosts take so many wild (even by his standards) ideas for granted. They start discussing Einstein’s unified field theory and how it was used to make military equipment invisible and he glances at Scully fondly, recalling her senior thesis and wishing she was awake to react.

As if a secret force somewhere out in the universe is working to grant his wishes, Scully laughs to herself under her breath. Her eyes are still closed, but when Mulder looks at her, he can see the amused expression written on her features.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He starts to turn the volume down when he feels the warmth of her small hand on his, stopping him.

“It’s alright,” she says, smiling a little. Her eyes open blearily “It wasn’t bothering me. It’s just funny.”

“Funny how?” Mulder asks, pretending to pout at her. “You mean to tell me that the unified field theory can’t be used to create invisible ships?”

She laughs softly and closes her eyes again, curling up in the seat. “Funniest thing I’ve heard in a while. Thanks for that.”

Mulder smiles at Scully fondly as her breathing evens out until he knows that she is sleeping peacefully once again. The radio is still on and the hosts are still squabbling over just what the invisible ships were used for and whether they had anything to do with Roswell. A few minutes later, Mulder hears Scully sleepily mutter something that sounds suspiciously like _ridiculous,_ but she does not stir.

“Figures,” he whispers to himself “only Dana Scully could school people on Einstein’s theories in her sleep.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! As always, comments are appreciated :)
> 
> Come hang out with me @ midwest-cryptid on tumblr


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